Love Ya, Too, Dot
by apostrophus
Summary: Dorothy and Nanashi are thrown into a closet together by conspiring friends to profess undying love, blah blah blah, etc. etc. been there, done that. But it doesn't work! ...Does it? DotNana


**Ahem. Here with my second work in a few hours. Dayum. I'm crankin' these out like nobody's business tonight. Or, rather, I'm finally uploading all of this old stuff. :D;; I'm mostly trying to fulfill the requirements to beta, but I do hope you like it! The amount of bad MAR ficcage out there is APPALLING. Hopefully, this'll be tolerable. Enjoy! :)**

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Dorothy groaned. Bored eyes roaming over the dim light fixture on the ceiling and the various insects skittering over the cobwebs and dusty walls, she waited patiently for her closet-mate-to-be.

Soon she heard Ginta's voice approaching with a set of two other footsteps. "Yeah, there's someone who wants to see you in that closet!"

"Really?" replied the skeptical voice.

Dorothy's heart attempted to leap and fall at the same time, the resulting motion being an odd sort of wriggle.

"What sort of person?" continued the second voice, a voice she now recognized as Nanashi's.

"Oh, a girl. Just maybe." Snow's voice joined the other two's with a giggle. "She is ever so eager to see you."

"A girl, eh?"

Dorothy rolled her eyes. Ginta and Snow had known where to hit. One had to simply say the word girl, and Nanashi was there. He had some sort of radar or something, honestly. And this was the man she loved…

**No!** she argued with herself. **Nanashi? Oh, honestly, the man was a total idiot. Shallow. And fueled by enough testosterone to run a 3****rd**** world country for a good few years. **

_And yet,_ added a small, sly voice, _he's brave, chivalrous, and strong. Compassionate. Merciful. And, you know, he probably wouldn't be a bad father-_

**Oh, stuff it, **replied her second half. **No way in hell am I thinking of EVER marrying that twit. He's a bloody pervert, too! Definitely wouldn't be faithful.**

_I'm sure if he married someone he loved very much-_

**BE QUIET! A little crush does NOT mean ANYTHING along the lines of marriage!**

_A little crush? Listen to yourself, you're desperately in love with him._

**Am not! **Came the sullen, childish reply.

"Dorothy?"

Dorothy's head jerked up, alarmed. "Oh, s'you."

"Yeah, it's good ol' Nanashi, everyone's favorite male model."

Dorothy snorted. **Egotistical, too.** "Isn't that nice?" she replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Love ya, too, Dot."

Dorothy's verbal reaction could be considered something like the child of keyboard mashing and your grandfather's scary old parrot that can say nothing but swear words in various languages. It finally ended with something along the lines of, "DO NOT CALL ME THAT FWEYTWEJK HOT IRON POKERS!!"

Nanashi raised his one visible eyebrow. "I'll keep that in mind, Dotty."

Dorothy's murderous glare was now so obvious that even Nanashi knew he had to quit. "So, er, you wanted me?" he asked, sounding politely confused and inquisitive.

Dorothy sighed. "Are you kidding? This is just some sort of scheme to make us confess our undying love to each other, or something."

"Oh, those." Nanashi rolled his eyes. "Yeah, been through multiple ones of those. Thing is, I was never serious about anyone, so they always ended badly."

"You were never serious, what a surprise…" Dorothy's voice was layered with scorn and sarcasm. "No way…"

"I have been serious! Four times, even!"

"Goodness, four times? No _wonder_ all the women are obsessed with you."

"Well, no, three times. Suzie wasn't really-"

"This just keeps getting better."

"Nah, Joyce wasn't very… I dunno. Guess it'd be twice, then. "

Dorothy waited in silence for a few moments, knowing her rewards would simply pile up.

"Once. Snow's a good kid, but-"

At this Dorothy gave another of her vocal explosions. "You thought you were serious about _Snow_?!"

Nanashi raised his hands defensively. "Hey! She's a good kid, like I said. Cute. Sweet. Why're you so surprised?"

"Well, she likes Ginta."

"You're supporting them? But didn't you like Ginta?"

"Yeah, but it's kinda useless to go after him when he's all over Snow like fur on a dog."

"Very true. But, the great Dorothy, give up?" He finally sat down on an upturned crate. "Wasn't expecting that."

"I'm not giving up, I'm…" She groped wildly for a phrase. "Moving on." _HAHA! You admitted it!_

**Be quiet. Damn, I seriously need a counselor or something; I'm acting like a schizo.**

"Moving on? To whom?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Like I'd tell you. But that leaves you with one serious case. Going to reconsider its seriousness?"

"No way in hell."

"Oh?" Dorothy was intrigued. "Who?"

"Two can play at your game; I'm not gonna tell you."

She scowled. "Fine."

"But, yeah, we should get on with things if we ever want to get outta here." He settled back on the wall, then immediately jumped back up. "Holy-!"

"Wha…?" Dorothy looked at him bemusedly, then at the wall. There a rusty, bent nail was sticking out, covered in dark liquid. She looked back at his face, and was surprised by the childish, innocent look of hurt plastered there.

"Owie."

Dorothy grinned in spite of herself. "You're like a little kid sometimes, for all you act so tough."

"Just pull out some Holy ÄRM and help me out here."

She fumbled in her pockets for a moment, checked all of her rings, and finally pulled a small charm from her boot. "Got it."

Nanashi turned around to give her better access to the small puncture.

"Oh, you wimp, this isn't so bad," Dorothy muttered as she pushed the long blond hair aside. "And you desperately need a haircut." Placing the ÄRM on his back, a brief glow emanated it, sealing the wound.

"Well, so do you!" Nanashi retorted. "Your hair is down to your knees. In braids."

"Yes, but I'm a girl. So it's okay if I look like one."

"Are you kidding? The fangirls love it!"

"…Fangirls?"

"Nevermind. Listen, you wanna get outta here or not?"

"Right. Oh, Nanashi." She placed her hands over heart, as if to control its sudden wild thudding, and tried to arrange her face into a convincing look of annoyance. "I love you. I have loved you for as long as I lived. FROM THE WOMB-" Nanashi snorted here "-HAVE I LONGED AFTER YOU. Your beautiful hair and mysterious green eyes. Your strength and courage. Your mercy and compassion. Please, accept this as a token of my undying love." Wildly, she looked around, then grabbed a mop and handed it to him flamboyantly. She gave a bow at the end, trying to ignore the blood pounding through her ears and how close to the truth her pseudo-confession was. In fact, without the whole womb thing (she sincerely doubted knowing anything as a fetus, let alone who or what a Nanashi was), it could be serious.

Nanashi tried to look as if he was chuckling internally, but, in all honesty, he felt his heart being plied open at the look on her face. As if it was all a good joke. As if he'd never be anything more to her than a pervert, a comrade at best.

"My turn," he started, an attempt at a grin on his face. "My most wonderful, fair Dorothy, my heart burns after you with the fiery passions of a thousand flaming suns. I only wish there were words to describe the perfection of your beauty, your resolve, your ingenuity, your strength, and all of your numerous other, but no less wonderful, attributes. My undying longing shall never be quenched, but only by your beautiful lips can it be undone. Relieve my burning anguish, beautiful creature!" He proceeded to make loud kissing noises in the air, soon to be joined by Dorothy, after she giggled to herself.

Her false giggle sounded hollow to her ears. She joined in his sound effects, trying to block the images that were blooming in her head, where the noises were not fake.

They heard a lock clicking outside. Nanashi quickly grabbed her hand, and tried to look pleased with himself, as Ginta's head peered into the small room.

"You guys done in there, or what? Geez, you're loud."

"Oh, yes. Dorothy, dear, maybe we should go to a place bit more…" He gave one of his infamous winks. "_Private_."

"Of course." She tried her best to look sappy, and batted her eyelashes at him. She was, however, secretly reveling in holding his large, callused hand.

Ginta looked mildly suspicious. "Alright…" Opening the door, he left, most likely to discuss the outcome with Snow.

Dorothy rolled her eyes. "Well, that was a pain. What was it, 'relieve my burning anguish'? That was quite impressive."

Nanashi chortled. "From the womb. Wow. Creativity, indeed."

"Hey, you're just jealous." She stuck her tongue out at him briefly, then turned around, which, sadly, required her to let go of his hand. "Anyway, there's some stuff I gotta do. I'll... talk to you later."

"I guess. Bye," Nanashi listlessly replied, eyes following her as far as they could down the dark castle corridor. Finally, in a whisper, when he was sure she couldn't hear him, he whispered quietly, "I love you."

Turning on his heel, he walked down the dim castle hall in the other direction. Odd how she could heal his back, but break his heart.

* * *

Dorothy leaned her head against the stone wall, cushioned only by her right arm. "_Love ya, too, Dot,_" in Nanashi's laughing voice echoed through her head, seemingly endless. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. Nanashi. Never the serious one, always joking. Never would he say "_Love ya, too, Dot_" in the way she wanted, in the way she longed, him to. She blinked furiously, trying to rid herself of tears. It worked to a certain extent, but her heart still felt like a hole in her chest.

**Pull yourself together!** she told herself. **How can you get so torn up over some egotist? **

Taking deep breaths, she straightened, closed her eyes and counted to ten. The voice was right. She couldn't let him do this to her.

Suddenly, a pair of hands were on her hips, and a pair of lips were breathing on the base of her neck.

She shuddered and her eyes shot open. "What…?"

* * *

Nanashi padded down the hall quietly. Almost turning around several times, he forced himself to walk as softly as he could to the door of Dorothy's room. Peering around the open door, he saw the pink-haired girl facing the wall, back rigid. She had rid herself of all of her usual paraphernalia and was dressed simply in a nightgown. Even her fuchsia hair was missing its usual baubles and was in two plain braids.

Seeing her standing there, innocent and bereaved of her decoration, the pit of his stomach erupted in a fire of want and longing. Quietly, he slipped into the room. Knowing that she would probably kill him for this later, he placed his hands on her hips and breathed slowly onto the base of her neck. She shivered in alarm.

"What…?"

Dorothy tried to turn around quickly and crouch into a defensible position. The hands that held her, however, were strong and callused, and she couldn't turn around fully. She did, however, twist enough to see a red shirt and long blond hair.

The mouth moved closer, sucking on her neck intently. Dorothy hardly dared breathe.

"Nanashi?"

The arms finally let her turn around and behold his face. Dorothy's heart, so empty a moment ago, was suddenly filled to bursting.

Nanashi leaned down and pressed his lips against hers with enough force to knock out a two-ton elephant.

Dorothy's mind was whirling, her thoughts making not making any coherency at all, though the words "Nanashi", "kiss", and "love me?" appeared quite frequently. His lips pushed against hers with such urgency, however, that her mind simply shut down and she concentrated only on the wonderful feeling bubbling in her chest, the feeling of his arms wrapped around her, the feeling of her soft lips against his.

Only when he finally ran out of breath, did he pull back. "I'm sorry," he murmured, clutching her waist tightly nonetheless.

Dorothy was still trying to piece together lucid thoughts and spit them out. But the only thing her mouth seemed to want to do was kiss the blond lightning user. Which it promptly did.

Nanashi gave a muffled grunt of surprise, which he was forced to swallow. Reciprocation? _That_ was unexpected. He at least expected to be beat by a broom over the head and possibly have his reproductive capabilities exterminated. Though a bit alarming, it was definitely more enjoyable to be beat to bits by the witch. His mouth, were it not otherwise occupied, would have turned up in its signature mischievous grin.

"I think…" Dorothy pulled back and laughed quietly, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Irony just bit us in the face."

"I can't help but agree." Nanashi smirked. "But Irony's gonna have to move on out, 'cause now it's my turn." He swooped down again and kissed her lightly.

Were Dorothy able to speak, she would probably snort and make a scathing remark about his horrible pick-up line. However she was a bit… distracted. And Nanashi definitely was not going to let her get a word in edgewise.

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**Good? Bad? Plz2b reviewin'! **

**Amunet 8D**


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